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Hartford schedules memorial service for former Mayor Carrie Saxon Perry

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A memorial service for former Hartford Mayor Carrie Saxon Perry — who died in 2018 with no public notice — has been scheduled for next month.

“We encourage guests to wear their favorite hat in honor of Mayor Saxon Perry,” organizers wrote on a page promoting the event on Facebook. The former mayor was known for her flamboyant hats.

Perry, who led Hartford from 1987-1993, was the first African American woman to be elected mayor of a major New England city. But her death on Nov. 22, 2018 remained largely unknown, even among those who knew her well, until word of her passing surfaced on Facebook and in news reports nearly a year later.

A death certificate obtained by the Courant said Perry, 87, died after suffering a heart attack. She was pronounced dead by a doctor in the emergency room at the Waterbury Hospital. The death certificate said she was at the end stage of renal disease.

It’s unclear why there was a veil of secrecy surrounding her death. Her surviving siblings and children haven’t spoken of her death and no obituary was ever published.

Perry was mayor when the position was largely ceremonial, before Hartford adopted a strong mayor form of government. But she still carried significant influence, building on the civil rights bedrock of her predecessor, Mayor Thirman Milner. She advocated for national measures that would spur investment and ease the ache of deeply impoverished cities like Hartford, and ushered in a new era for LGBT issues. After serving as mayor, she later became president of the Greater Hartford Branch of the NAACP.

“She meant a whole lot to Hartford, especially to the young ladies in the city,” Milner recalled last November after he had learned of her death.

The service will be held Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m. at the Artists Collective, 1200 Albany Ave., in Hartford. It was organized by State Treasurer Shawn T. Wooden, City Treasurer Adam M. Cloud, Milner, City Council Majority Leader Thomas J. “TJ” Clarke II, Greater Hartford NAACP President Maxien Robinson-Lewin, Superintendent of Bloomfield Public Schools James Thompson, Jr. and Mayor Luke Bronin.

Russell Blair can be reached at rblair@courant.com.